Studies of Estonian language

The tradition of academic teaching of the Estonian language has lasted the longest in Finland and Sweden. In the 1833rd and 1834th academic year the first lecturer on Finnish Carl Niclas Keckman at the University of Helsinki shared knowledge about the Estonian language within the course of comparative grammar of related languages.

The first course of the Estonian language at Uppsala University took place in the 1901st and 1902nd academic year which was conducted by Karl Bernhard Wiklund. The first lectureship of the Estonian language was opened in 1923 at the University of Helsinki, where there was a lecturer Villem Grünthal-Ridala who worked there as a linguist and folklorist. In 1935 the Estonian language was started being taught in Paris at the National Institute of Languages and Oriental Civilisations (INALCO), In 1938 to 1946 there was a scholar of literature Aleksander Aspel who worked there as a lecturer. In 1938 under the guidance of a folklorist and linguist Felix Oinas the Estonian language was started being taught at the University of Budapest.

Estonian is currently being taught all over the world from America to Asia in more than 30 universities and colleges. Students who learn Estonian represent the whole life-span and come from very different professional backgrounds.

Until 2017 the programme was coordinated by the Estonian Institute. From 2017 it is coordinated by the Archimedes Foundation.